Praktica Appreciation Thread

Sewin · Oct 2, 2015

Praktica L2 Half frame.

These show up sometimes, but are pricey on ebay. Modified L2 for UK Police half frame / mugshot camera.

Exposure fixed at 1/125 for flash.

Strange, that out of all cameras available the UK police picked Praktica.

AgX · Oct 2, 2015

What was the idea behind substituting the winding lever by a knob?

Even with imagining the camera horizontal on a tripod I can't see the benefit. Or is it more comfortable to turn a knob instead when the camera is at waist-level? I guess I have to give it a try.

Sewin · Oct 2, 2015

Not sure,

Perhaps our police were clumsy

It might have been a modification to save pressing the rewind button on the base as the camera would have been mounted on a tripod.

The other thing, if you look at Mikes Praktica collection pages it doesn't look as if the viewfinder has been modified like other half frame cameras.

So the camera may have been used in portrait mode?

AgX · Oct 2, 2015

Portrait mode with a half-frame camera means horizontal orientation of the camera.

Sewin · Oct 2, 2015

AgX said:
Portrait mode with a half-frame camera means horizontal orientation of the camera.

oops, of course

darthj · Oct 2, 2015

Sewin said:
Praktica L2 Half frame.

These show up sometimes, but are pricey on ebay. Modified L2 for UK Police half frame / mugshot camera.

Exposure fixed at 1/125 for flash.

Strange, that out of all cameras available the UK police picked Praktica.

Combine "limited budget" with "cooperative company". That's how the Saint ended up with a Volvo P1800.

AgX · Oct 2, 2015

Sewin said:
Strange, that out of all cameras available the UK police picked Praktica.

Other westen police agencies did the same. And GDR Stasi bought Robot cameras.

Zorkiphoto · Oct 7, 2015

My first proper camera was a Praktica MTL 5B I bought back in 1990. Cost me £50 and worked like a dream. Ended up giving it to my best mate who got years of service from it too.

In recent years I've amassed a few dozen working cameras to shoot and blog about, and bought an MTL 50 that was a steal at £25. Worked like a dream for a few years - needed a minor repair to the ISO/film speed dial but is otherwise in full working order. A great camera to shoot with.

I reviewed it for my blog if anyone fancies checking it out...

Dead Link Removed

Cheers

S

Aleksej6 · Oct 7, 2015

I have a Praktica FX2 and I like it, sounds well, it is big and seems solid, have an interesting waist level viewfinder.

Sewin · Oct 16, 2015

Zorkiphoto said:
My first proper camera was a Praktica MTL 5B I bought back in 1990. Cost me £50 and worked like a dream. Ended up giving it to my best mate who got years of service from it too.

In recent years I've amassed a few dozen working cameras to shoot and blog about, and bought an MTL 50 that was a steal at £25. Worked like a dream for a few years - needed a minor repair to the ISO/film speed dial but is otherwise in full working order. A great camera to shoot with.

I reviewed it for my blog if anyone fancies checking it out...

Dead Link Removed

Cheers

S

Hi,

The MTL50 is a good camera, nice and solid, but it's the one Praktica (up to now )that I never really got on with.

No problems with the mechanics or ergonomics, I just prefer a match needle instead of the LEDs.

Guess I'm just old fashioned, the best of the mechanical Prakticas I'd say would be the L2, but as I've said previously I'm currently enjoyng my B series cameras. They do have LED's but to indicate shutter speed.

phil0 · Oct 16, 2015

My first real camera was a Praktica 40 years ago and I'm looking at a photo taken with it right now.
That said, I graduated to a CanonA1 pretty fast and then to Leicas, which I continue to shoot to this day.

AgX · Oct 25, 2015

Prakticas in a new tv feature (in German)

short version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhofWEpFdOs

(One mistake though. They state that in the 70s the last major west-german camera manufacturer closed.
Actually the last major one to close was Agfa in the 80s (though with a portfolio a bit different from that of Pentacon).)

Sewin · Oct 27, 2015

Nice AgX,

I've seen some of the clips, but not all of them particularly the clips with the Japanese interest, and unfortunately I don't understand German.

darthj · Oct 27, 2015

Not only were the Japanese interested, they also bought some cameras ... and then copied them.

AgX · Oct 27, 2015

Japanese managers visited Pentacon in 1990. But got not interested in the plant.

Sewin · Oct 28, 2015

Wasn't the Japanese Asahiflex a copy of a Praktiflex?

Praktina had a good time in the early 50's, it's recorded that photo journalists for Life magazine used Praktinas before the Nikons took over.

darthj · Nov 15, 2015

A digital camera on an analog camera forum, what a sacrilege. Yet we must appreciate every Praktica, even if they are digital and/or made in China. As they are probably the last Praktica's we'll ever see, now (2015) that Pentacon has closed down its camera department.
I choose this particular model (Luxmedia 18-Z36C) for its full 1080hd filming capacity. Oddly enough but somehow it still feels like a Praktica.

sagai · Nov 23, 2015

I am continuously amazed with the performance of my BMS with the 50/1.8 .

https://goo.gl/photos/4CDwVLjejueyHARR6

AgX · Nov 23, 2015

The GDR microchip production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtwwupx8Hs

(Interesting are the many very young technicians and engineers depicted here. A phychologist was part of the staff to sort out personal stress hampering faultless production)

GDR microchip industry was likely the most modern and best financed industry at the end of the GDR. A fortune was spent in trying to produce massmarket storage- and processor-chips against further advanced world-market competitors, instead of product-propriatary small batch chips, as for instance for the camera industry.

benjiboy · Nov 23, 2015

AgX said:
The GDR microchip production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtwwupx8Hs

(Interesting are the many very young technicians and engineers depicted here. A phychologist was part of the staff to sort out personal stress hampering faultless production)

GDR microchip industry was likely the most modern and best financed industry at the end of the GDR. A fortune was spent in trying to produce massmarket storage- and processor-chips against further advanced world-market competitors, instead of product-propriatary small batch chips, as for instance for the camera industry.

They had to expend an extrodinery amount of money and effort to produce microchips that had been commercially available in the West for years that there was a ban on supplying the communist block with.

AgX · Nov 23, 2015

The originally market the GDR aimed for was the USSR. The ban on sales to the COMECON states originated in the USA.
The USSR market collapsed before the GDR did so themselves.

A few of the problems GDR economy had to face.

In contrast to the camera- and film-industry the GDR microelectronics industry however survived.
Typically not with the old manufacturers but with western companies investing there.

onre · Nov 25, 2015

Bought a very nice Praktica LTL last summer, basically near mint condition. It came with a Vivitar 28 mm f/2,8, which I've found rather useful. The LTL feels very solid and I use it as my "better" M42 body - better, as in "the one that has more than five shutter speeds". I've thought of getting a substitute for the battery to get the light meter to work. I like the ergonomics a lot and to my eye the body has a certain "professional" look.

I need a proper DDR normal lens for it, though.

GRHazelton · Nov 25, 2015

LTL uses a bridge circuit, I think.

While the LTL uses a mercury cell, I believe it uses a bridge circuit for the meter. Since centering the needle on the circle sets the exposure this, IIRC, indicates that the CdS cell and the meter needle indicate a balance in the resistance of the CdS cell and the meter movement, so the absolute voltage of the battery is not very important. Try a silver-oxide of the proper size, and do watch polarity!

darthj · Nov 25, 2015

Let's show what camera we are talking about ...

The black LTL.

The silver LTL.

or the HANIMEX LTL, as rebadged in the USA for the North-American market.

Sewin · Nov 26, 2015

onre,

Welcome, you should be able to pick up an M42 Praktica lens quite reasonably, but they do sometimes get snapped up by DSLR users.

Don't forget the Zenit Helios lenses too.

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